tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21554149729946272312024-03-18T22:44:33.149-07:00These City LightsDaniel Frederickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02034539961088826452noreply@blogger.comBlogger236125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2155414972994627231.post-12776622856942653822013-12-29T20:38:00.003-08:002013-12-29T20:38:41.182-08:00Waiting for the Sacrifice"In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams" (Acts 2:17).<br />
<br />
This morning I awoke with a vision. <br />
<br />
In no ordinary way thoughts came to me about the temple. The Bible says in Hebrews 9, "Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place, which had the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. This ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron's staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant. Above the ark were the cherubim of the Glory, overshadowing the atonement cover. But we cannot discuss these things in detail now." <br />
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Once a year the High Priest would enter the the Most Holy Place and offer a sacrifice for the sins of the people. The sacrifice was required, but remained insufficient for permanently cleansing the people who offered the sacrifice. <br />
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I was not given a glimpse into the Most Holy Place this morning, neither was I given special insight into the reason God fashioned the temporary requirement of animal sacrifice. What was given to me was a powerful sense of waiting outside for the High Priest to return form making the sacrifice. <br />
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For all the difficult things to understand in the Old Testament covenant and culture one thing was made simple, the people knew where to find God. He was in the tabernacle. It is not like God was waiting in the tabernacle like a genie in a lamp. In 2 Chronicles 7:15-16 the Lord appears to Solomon and promises, "No my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. I have chosen and consecrated this place so that my Name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there."<br />
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Returning to the temple meant returning to God. And once a year those who faithfully sough His presence would gather to see if their sacrifice was accepted. <br />
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Recently God has been filling my heart with the desire to return to him, like those people who would return to the temple. I want to wait. For some time now I have been exploring my options, living how I please, and hurting the Spirit that God has put in me. Will God accept the sacrifice I bring? I can quickly spout off accurate theology that God permanently and perfectly accepts the sacrifice of Jesus. The death the perfect Son of God died, he died for me. But that truth is not offered for us to forgetfully go about our lives. That is not faith. Faith hungers and thirst. "O god, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live and in your name I will lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you" (Psalm 63:2-5).<br />
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Will you wait with me?<br />
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<br />Daniel Frederickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02034539961088826452noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2155414972994627231.post-2987029807002811722013-12-25T22:51:00.004-08:002013-12-25T23:11:32.016-08:00Christmas Day: Surgeon SaviorChristmas Day.<br />
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Sometimes I am not sure if I really want to be like Jesus. Truthfully, I am not sure what my other options are, but I am certain of what I am rejecting when it comes to this decision.<br />
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Selflessness, that's what I'm rejecting.<br />
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When I don't want to be like Jesus it is because I am done with trying to be like him. I can't do it. Something always frustrates my attempts. My attempts only peel back the layers of good intentions to show something unpleasant beneath.<br />
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Inside I need grace. Grace that will come like a careful surgeon and skillfully fix what I do not have the ability to reach. Internal issues that require a surgeon cannot be figured out by a butcher wielding a butter knife. Both will make cuts, but only one will prove to be healing. <br />
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Every Christmas we celebrate the birth of the finest soul surgeon. He came to make the cut. And he used the sharpest tool: love.<br />
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Christmas is always a day of paradox. On one hand we see the complete selflessness of God and on the other hand we often spend a good deal of time setting the stage to put ourselves front and center. So often gift giving is more to prove a point than to simply lavish love. <br />
<br />
We have this example:<br />
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"This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another." (1 John 4:9-11)<br />
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<br />Daniel Frederickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02034539961088826452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2155414972994627231.post-36156151329810284352013-05-21T13:43:00.003-07:002013-05-21T13:43:35.290-07:00Oscar Romero<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“[The Church] is a community of
faith whose primary obligation, whose raison d’etre, is to continue the life
and work of Jesus.” (73) No lesser objective
would inspire such a pairing of powerful intellect and complete sacrifice as that
of Archbishop Oscar Romero. The
centrality of evangelism and justice, especially with regards to the violence
and poverty in his “beloved country”, was clearly motivated by no alternative
ideology. No ideology encompassed
Jesus. Marxism and Capitalism simply had
fallen off different sides of the same horse.
The direction that the church must take cannot be left to the decision of
councils or national politics. “Only in
the light of Christ, of his actions and his teaching, can the church find
meaning of, and guidance for, its service in the world.” (71) For Romero, the action and teaching was
clear. “I tell you the truth,” Jesus said, “Whatever you do for one of the
least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” (Matthew 25:40) Every individual or ideology that stood in
the way of justice must be confronted—confronted by what Romero would
repeatedly call, “the full power of the Gospel.” Romero understood that the advance of the
church was not done by matching violence with violence. The church advances through
evangelism—“Evangelism is in fact the grace and vocation proper to the Church,
its deepest identity.” (130) Violence
will only lead to a different form of bondage; evangelism leads to true
liberation. Romero was very clear that
his emphasis on the poor was not because they were extra special. All people equally need Jesus. Romero, following the pattern of Jesus,
focused on the poor because they are the one without voices, overwhelmed by
rampant injustice. By doing so he became
the “voice for the voiceless.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Evangelism and justice cannot be
merely fashionable hobbies of the modern church.</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">They are not niceties and things that we do
to booster the identity of our organizations.</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">
</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The Gospel is not a brand to be marketed; it is a power that is waiting
to be unleashed.</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">It is very clear in the
writings of Romero that he believed the Gospel was more powerful than steel and
gun powder.</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Guns will not triumph, but
the person of faith will.</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">This is not a
new conviction, but an old tradition.</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">
</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The commitment to sacrificial evangelism and fearless pursuit of justice
has won the greatest victories in all the annals of history.</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Though it is currently trendy to speak of “relevant”
evangelism and justice in modern culture it rarely takes a selfless,
sacrificial form.</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Romero aptly remarked,
“Just as injustice takes concrete forms, so the promotion of justice must take
concrete forms.” (75)</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The form of injustice
was apparent in El Salvador—abductions, assassinations, wide-spread poverty,
inequality—and required an equally visible response.</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">This is culturally awkward, though.</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">It is not neutral and will force us away from
the center of normalcy.</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">For example: we
decry racism, but are too busy to make an effort to extend a hand of
reconciliation.</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">But our words are so
beautiful!</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Nice sermons and chili
cook-offs will not further the kingdom unless they take the form of true and
visible justice and mercy.</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The poor are
not helped by people feeling bad, they are helped by people taking acting on
their behalf.</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“Your attitude should be
the same as that of Christ Jesus: who, being in very nature God, did not
consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">And being found in appearance as a man, he
humbled himself to death—even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:5-8)</span></div>
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Daniel Frederickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02034539961088826452noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2155414972994627231.post-38631925850691030012012-09-11T22:28:00.005-07:002012-09-11T22:30:21.210-07:00driving the point homeNo one would argue if he was called a nuisance. The name might actually be tame for his behavior. He was loud and limited in social boundaries. "Why did he come to the Coffee Oasis?" I thought. "He drives other kids away," I reasoned. Then last Saturday night I drove him home. "Just down the road," he said. I missed the turn and had to flip the car around. It didn't look like a place people lived. Not even a trailer park. A winding dirt road, scattered with 5th wheels. He lived in the last one. Not a place to invite friend from school, but I'm glad he asked me to drive him home.Daniel Frederickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02034539961088826452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2155414972994627231.post-65154171749429598842012-02-28T22:20:00.002-08:002012-02-28T22:34:23.450-08:00I die first...<a href="http://www.vergenetwork.org/2012/02/08/francis-chan-sweet-fellowship-with-jesus/">http://www.vergenetwork.org/2012/02/08/francis-chan-sweet-fellowship-with-jesus/</a>Daniel Frederickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02034539961088826452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2155414972994627231.post-15367401436008017232012-02-18T16:27:00.001-08:002012-02-18T16:27:49.863-08:00The Poor Change Me<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enJ4eGu3Evo">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enJ4eGu3Evo</a>Daniel Frederickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02034539961088826452noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2155414972994627231.post-58894470791911392232012-01-28T23:54:00.001-08:002012-01-28T23:54:52.832-08:00True Conceptionhttp://www.ted.com/talks/alexander_tsiaras_conception_to_birth_visualized.htmlDaniel Frederickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02034539961088826452noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2155414972994627231.post-35327501557498864882011-12-29T10:10:00.000-08:002011-12-29T10:14:36.307-08:00Death<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; line-height: 18px; ">To mortals death is a paradox.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>It is both awaited and postponed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>It is completely contrary to life, but it is intimately involved in the complete living process.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>“Though man’s nature is mortal, God had destined man not to die,” says the Roman Catholic <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Catechism</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>It is not that man does not know how to die; he does not know how to do it well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Scharz reminds us that “there is no good death, as the term ‘euthanasis’ (meaning ‘good death’ in Greek) intimates.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Death is always ambiguous; it can be a release from suffering, but it is always the loss of life.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>We do not know how to die well because we do not know how to preserve life (not speaking merely biologically)—that which we have always striven to maintain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Jean-Paul Sarte saw death as a loss of meaning, but it is only so if life already lacked meaning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>If we see life only being healthy vital signs then death is simply a period marking the end of life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>But that would fail to acknowledge any meaning in the actions that have been lived.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>It would be the same as saying that there is no difference between breathing and laughing or that a runner has no more meaning because the course was is completed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The Apostle Paul speaks in the same metaphor revealing the only way to actually die well: “For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have kept the faith.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”</span></p> <div style="mso-element:footnote-list">Watch: http://gma.yahoo.com/video/news-26797925/sick-teen-s-videos-go-viral-after-death-27729605.html<div style="mso-element:footnote" id="ftn"> </div> </div> <!--EndFragment-->Daniel Frederickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02034539961088826452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2155414972994627231.post-78311799758317928732011-12-08T18:03:00.000-08:002011-12-08T18:03:50.093-08:00Tim Tebow and Faith<div>I tend to not take part in such drama filled issues, but I have been particularly impressed by Tim Tebow's sincere and unashamed faith in Jesus Christ.</div><div><br /></div><div>Can't help but be reminded of Paul's words in Romans: "I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: 'The righteous will live by faith.'"</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><a href="http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/12/08/tim-tebow-and-faiths-place-in-football/">Tim Tebow and Faith’s Place in Football | NewsFeed | TIME.com</a>:<br /><br /><a style="font-size:13px" href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pengoopmcjnbflcjbmoeodbmoflcgjlk">'via Blog this'</a>Daniel Frederickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02034539961088826452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2155414972994627231.post-17487252829031686532011-12-06T09:10:00.000-08:002011-12-06T09:10:36.336-08:00wiebifferick christmas treeing<div>For those who have not yet purchased your Christmas tree, here is a little guidebook to help you be successful on that adventure...</div><div><br /></div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7SHS_23VL8&feature=share">Christmas Tree.mp4 - YouTube</a>:<br /><br /><a style="font-size:13px" href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pengoopmcjnbflcjbmoeodbmoflcgjlk">'via Blog this'</a>Daniel Frederickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02034539961088826452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2155414972994627231.post-82369655618022776482011-12-05T16:34:00.000-08:002011-12-05T16:35:45.955-08:00remembering atonement<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="en-US" style="font-family:"Bodoni MT";mso-default-font-family:"Bodoni MT";mso-ascii-font-family: "Bodoni MT";mso-latin-font-family:"Bodoni MT";language:en-US;mso-ansi-language: en-US;mso-ligatures:none">"We shall not cease, dear brethren, in our ministry, most definitely and decidedly to preach the atoning sacrifice; and I will tell you why I shall be sure to do so. I have not personally a shadow of a hope of salvation from any other quarter: I am lost if Jesus be not my Substitute. I have been driven up into a corner by a pressing sense of my own personal sin, and have been made to despair of ever doing or being such that God can accept me in myself. I must have a righteousness, perfect and Divine; yet it is beyond my own power to create. I find it in Christ: I read that it will become mine by faith, and by faith I take it. My conscience tells me that I must render to God’s justice a recompense for the dishonor that I have done to His law, and I cannot find anything which bears the semblance of such a recompense till I look to Christ Jesus. Do I not remember when I first looked to Him, and was lightened? Do I not remember how often I have gone as a sinner to my Savior’s feet, and looked anew at His wounds, and believed over again unto eternal life, feeling the old joy repeated by the deed?</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="en-US" style="font-family:"Bodoni MT";mso-default-font-family:"Bodoni MT";mso-ascii-font-family: "Bodoni MT";mso-latin-font-family:"Bodoni MT";language:en-US;mso-ansi-language: en-US;mso-ligatures:none"> - C.H. Spurgeon</span><span lang="en-US" style="font-family:"Bodoni MT";mso-default-font-family:"Bodoni MT"; mso-ascii-font-family:"Bodoni MT";mso-latin-font-family:"Bodoni MT";language: en-US;mso-ligatures:none"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="en-US"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>Daniel Frederickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02034539961088826452noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2155414972994627231.post-40083578091773960832011-11-24T11:18:00.000-08:002011-11-24T11:18:03.172-08:00Tears of the Saints<div>Yes.</div><div><br /></div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PjJN1dsLaI&feature=related">Tears of the Saints - Missions - Español - YouTube</a>:<br /><br /><a style="font-size:13px" href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pengoopmcjnbflcjbmoeodbmoflcgjlk">'via Blog this'</a>Daniel Frederickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02034539961088826452noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2155414972994627231.post-46468768335354041902011-11-21T21:41:00.000-08:002011-11-21T22:03:48.860-08:00don't have anywhere to go!"Gentle" is usually the first word that comes out of someones mouth when my friend approaches. He is massive, but proportionately so. My friend has autism so he is sometimes forgets the advice. Every day it is the same. At least his power is released in suffocating hugs. Often I feel my back crackles as he effortlessly picks me up off the floor. My feet dangle like loosely hanging autumn leaves. He sets me back down again and pats me on the back twice for good measure. At least to him they are pats. I brace for their jarring force. But I don't mind. Really I don't. He wants to show his affection. My friend "aged out" of foster care at the age of 18. Now he is given money to live on his own. He has done surprisingly well. He budgets and invests. Perhaps the investments would not be considered wise according to a scrutinizing eye. His purchases are what any 18 would buy. The important thing is that he is investing. <div><br /></div><div>This afternoon I wandered downstairs. My head was spinning with a variety of tasks and I wanted to spend time with the youth. Their raw energy can be refreshing. Before I knew it I was wrapped up in a bone-grinding hug. As I was gently returned to the earth my friend told me that it was his birthday on Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving. Actually what he told me is that he would be missing class that day (he takes classes at the local community college). I think he wanted me to scold him for not taking school seriously enough. He laughed and explained the rest. "I am glad you'll be spending Thanksgiving with your family," I chimed. "No. I'm coming back that night," he replied. I felt dumb as he offered a few excuses for his family. "But it's okay, the pastor of my church is having a dinner for people who don't have anywhere else to go..." Don't have anywhere to go! My heart hurt.</div><div><br /></div><div>"...I was a stranger and you invited me in." - Matthew 25</div><div><br /></div>Daniel Frederickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02034539961088826452noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2155414972994627231.post-38813393640167411442011-11-14T09:57:00.000-08:002011-11-14T10:03:05.376-08:00not our own<div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>"<i>We are not our own: let not our reason nor our will, therefore, sway our plans and deeds. We are not our own: let us therefore not set it as our goal to seek what is expedient for us according to the flesh. We are not our own: in so far as we can, let us therefore forget ourselves and all that is ours. Conversely, we are God's: let us therefore live for him and die for him. We are God's: let his wisdom and will therefore rule all our actions. We are God's let all the parts of our life accordingly strive towards him as our only lawful goal</i>." - John Calvin<div><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 220px; height: 292px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWCmjZxjM41gryoPKlVMiKjNcZtDXpO3FSWMjrDbWAhFL7qCirAmYd-O2M59hV9IHZk5W60R77PcEjF5UlcvyViDXDZLe6yUT8ZqI153qNGpqHzmtE8y98ZpbYr_l6mvB9wVlhOvMrZSQ/s320/calvin.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5674913419503303138" /></div><div><br /></div>Daniel Frederickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02034539961088826452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2155414972994627231.post-45648621208481917422011-11-12T18:25:00.000-08:002011-11-12T18:25:09.093-08:00Keith Green - (talk about) The Sheep And The Goats (live) - YouTube<div>Tomorrow I will be preaching on Matthew 25:31-46. Below is a link to a video of Keith Green talking about the same verses. It is a reminder of my early faith. Pray with me that the word will come strong and clear tomorrow. Pray that by God's grace we will have vulnerable hearts to hear and that the Holy Spirit would empower us to DO.</div><div><br /></div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pc5wINcJcH0">Keith Green - (talk about) The Sheep And The Goats (live) - YouTube</a>:<br /><br /><a style="font-size:13px" href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pengoopmcjnbflcjbmoeodbmoflcgjlk">'via Blog this'</a>Daniel Frederickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02034539961088826452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2155414972994627231.post-63779709970626996312011-10-10T09:34:00.000-07:002011-10-10T09:36:03.230-07:00the pillar of the cloud<div>by John Henry, Cardinal Newman (1801-1890)</div><br /><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; "><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" id="table23"><tbody><tr><td valign="top" style="font-size: 10pt; width: 523px; "><span style="font-size: 14px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" >Lead, Kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom,<br />Lead Thou me on!<br />The night is dark, and I am far from home --<br />Lead Thou me on!<br />Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see<br />The distant scene, -- one step enough for me.<br /><br />I was not ever thus, nor pray'd that Thou<br />Should'st lead me on.<br />I loved to choose and see my path; but now<br />Lead Thou me on!<br />I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears,<br />Pride ruled my will: remember not past years.<br /><br />So long Thy power hath blest me, sure it still<br />Will lead me on,<br />O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till<br />The night is gone;<br />And with the morn those angel faces smile<br />Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" > </span></span></td></tr></tbody></table></span></div>Daniel Frederickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02034539961088826452noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2155414972994627231.post-44485263029728568902011-09-27T14:13:00.000-07:002011-09-27T14:13:16.957-07:00Notes from the Tilt-A-Whirl Movie Trailer on Vimeo<div>Watch - </div><div><br /></div><a href="http://vimeo.com/22625093">Notes from the Tilt-A-Whirl Movie Trailer on Vimeo</a>:<br /><br /><a style="font-size:13px" href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pengoopmcjnbflcjbmoeodbmoflcgjlk">'via Blog this'</a>Daniel Frederickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02034539961088826452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2155414972994627231.post-38794990079473091082011-09-03T15:32:00.000-07:002011-09-03T15:49:12.459-07:00unless we listen3rd day in Basque Country. Drove from San Sabastian (northern Spain) into France across the Pyranees Mountains today. Hours upon hours of small villages, delicacies, and winding road. It is one of the most beautiful places on earth (though my heart cannot let go of the romantic mountains that form the Olympic peninsula). The people are beautiful. God is using them to shift the plates in my heart. I think that "missions" has traditionally sought to find out what is wrong with a people group and then offer specific suggestions on how Jesus can meet a need or fulfill a purpose. Completely beside my own intentions I found myself searching for a hidden sin or glaring fault so "Jesus could meet every need." The Basque people are have very few faults. They are delightful and enviable conversationalists. I have never been to a city were I have seen more laughter. The streets are filled with people simply being together. At the same time they are a people of 3.5 million that have no national church. Only an estimated 100 Basque people claim Jesus as Lord. Where is the disconnect. Studying this evening (yes, it is 12:45 in the morning in San Sabastian and I am studying for school!) I read a John Stott quote that was helpful: "Unless we listen attentively to the voices of secular society, unless we struggle to understand them, unless we feel with modern men and women their frustration, their alienation, their pain and even sometimes, their despair, I think that we shall lack authenticity as the followers of Jesus of Nazareth." I judge to well and love to little. Father forgive us for mistaking our role as sheep. My heart has been in turmoil over the whole matter so please continue to pray for us as we continue on in Basque until September 12th.Daniel Frederickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02034539961088826452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2155414972994627231.post-68511552840553307072011-08-29T10:43:00.000-07:002011-08-29T10:43:02.636-07:00Become Weaker<a href="http://www.theworkofthepeople.com/index.php?ct=store.details&pid=V00975">The Work of the People: Films: Become Weaker</a>:
<br />
<br /><a style="font-size:13px" href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pengoopmcjnbflcjbmoeodbmoflcgjlk">'via Blog this'</a>Daniel Frederickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02034539961088826452noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2155414972994627231.post-68148909982919699582011-08-22T23:51:00.000-07:002011-08-22T23:51:22.709-07:00Do you understand forgiveness?<a href="http://video.pbs.org/video/1855847795/">Helen Whitney on Forgiveness and Hopes | Forgiveness: A Time to Love and a Time to Hate | PBS Video</a>Daniel Frederickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02034539961088826452noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2155414972994627231.post-69992037829913320912011-08-22T23:46:00.000-07:002011-08-22T23:46:55.594-07:00The Voice of Justice<a href="http://vimeo.com/20094845">The Voice of Justice on Vimeo</a><div>
<br /></div><div>An excellent example of how easily we become confused between the sly riddles of temptation and the offer of true hope.</div>Daniel Frederickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02034539961088826452noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2155414972994627231.post-11645325536921056002011-08-22T10:51:00.001-07:002011-08-22T10:56:29.718-07:00HURTAn excerpt from a book that I am reading on the development of adolescents (or "middle adolescents") in high school. The book is titled HURT:<div>
<br /></div><div>"The loss of meaningful relationships with adults has been the most devastating to developing adolescents. Because mid-adolescents have not had enough life experience to understand fully the accompanying sense of loneliness and isolation they feel, few could articulate their experience specifically as 'loss' in my study. But the reality of the experience oozed out of nearly every student. And in discussion with mid-adolescents across the country, not one disagreed with this bleak assessment. When feeling safe enough to admit, every student I talked to acknowledged that loneliness is a central experience. In decrying the panic in the lives of young girls in the midst of contemporary culture, Mary Pipher provides a wake-up call with her poignant summation of how parents are viewed by adolescents: 'To paraphrase a Stevie Smith poem about swimming in the sea, "they are not waving, they are drowning.'" And just when they most need help, they are unable to take their parent's hands.' They feel this way about all adults who are not there for them."</div>Daniel Frederickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02034539961088826452noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2155414972994627231.post-71782920884790155122011-08-09T20:43:00.000-07:002011-08-09T20:46:54.178-07:00know the worthAt the end of over forty-five years of ministry E. Stanley Jones wrote:<div>
<br /></div><div>"You don't know the worth of your Christian faith until you have compared it with others and subjected it to life....I've put my faith out before the non-Christian world and have said: 'There it is...if you can break it, break it. For I cannot live in a paradise if it turns out to be a fool's paradise'....So the keenest minds and the most philosophical of the world have smitten upon my faith, night and day for over half a century. Result? Broken? There are scars on my faith but underneath those scars there are no doubts. The song I sing is a life-song. Not the temporary exuberance of youth that often fades when middle and old age set in with their disillusionmnets and cynicism. No, I'm eighty-three and more excited today about being a Christian than I was at eighteen when I put my feet upon the Way....Now by seasoned, tested, corroborated experience I know that this is not a way, but the Way."</div>Daniel Frederickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02034539961088826452noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2155414972994627231.post-24281734321519553822011-08-09T12:51:00.000-07:002011-08-09T12:51:51.877-07:00Videos: Healthy Tomorrow Winner, July 2011: Coffee Oasis - Kitsap, WA | Kitsap Sun<a href="http://www.kitsapsun.com/videos/detail/healthy-tomorrow-winner-july-2011-coffee-oasis/">Videos: Healthy Tomorrow Winner, July 2011: Coffee Oasis - Kitsap, WA | Kitsap Sun</a>Daniel Frederickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02034539961088826452noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2155414972994627231.post-21750171820444916362011-07-21T23:43:00.000-07:002011-07-21T23:58:57.119-07:00mary oliver<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><p>Here is an article written by Mary Oliver titled "The First Requirement for Writing Poetry." Oh drat! I have probably bored you already. That title has so many reasons to stop reading. The word first is like when a teacher or pastor says "But we'll get to that later," which makes the listener assume it will be a very long discourse. First makes you assume there is something else to follow. Requirement is no less friendly a term. Requirement is not an easy house guest. It always seems to ask you to cater to its needs and then judges you when they are not met, whether or not you have agreed to their terms (The very reason men don't read instruction manuals or road maps). Writing and poetry is also a sale stopper. It is the scary territory of mixing discipline and mysticism. Poetry is not satisfied repeating the old jargon. Poetry is always squinting its eyes to see clearer. It would stand on its head if it helped. Poetry finds the unwritten lyrics to the tune everyone is humming. </p></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: georgia; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-size: medium; ">Anyway, imagine the essay below is describing our rendezvous with God. It hurt my heart to think how cheaply I treat my relationship with him. But let us now wait at that same spot for renewal...</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px;">"The First Requirement for Writing Poetry" by Mary Oliver<br /></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" ><p>"If Romeo and Juliet had made appointments to meet, in the moonlight-swept orchard, in all the peril and sweetness of conspiracy, and then more often than not failed to meet — one of the other lagging, or afraid, or busy elsewhere — there would have been no romance, no passion, none of the drama for which we remember and celebrate them. Writing a poem is not so different — it is a kind of possible love affair between something like the heart (that courageous but also shy factory of emotion) and the learned skills of the conscious mind. They make appointments with each other, and keep them, and something begins to happen. Or, they make appointments with each other but are casual and often fail to keep them: count on it, nothing happens.</p><p>The part of the psyche that works in concert with consciousness and supplies a necessary part of the poem — a heart of a star as opposed to the shape of a star, let us say — exists in a mysterious, unmapped zone: no unconscious, not conscious, but cautious. It learns quickly what sort of courtship it is going to be. Say you promise to be at your desk in the evenings, from seven to nine. It waits, it watches. If you are reliably there, it begins to show itself — soon it begins to arrive when you do. But if you are only there sometimes and are frequently late or inattentive, it will appear fleetingly, or it will not appear at all.</p><p>Why should it? It can wait. It can stay silent a lifetime. Who know anyway what it is, that wild, silky part of ourselves without which no poem can live? But we do know this: if it is going to enter into a passionate relationship and speak what is in its own portion of your mind, the other responsible and purposeful part of you had better be a Romeo. It doesn’t matter if risk is somewhere close by — risk is always hovering somewhere. But it won’t involve itself with anything less than a perfect seriousness.</p><p>Various ambitions -- to complete the poem, to see it in print, to enjoy the gratification of someone's comment about it -- serve in some measure as incentives to the writer's work. Though each of these is reasonable, each is a threat to that other ambition of the poet, which is to write as well as Keats, or Yeats, or Williams -- or whoever it was who scribbled onto a page a few lines whose force the reader once felt and has never forgotten. Every poet's ambition should be to write as well. Anything else is only a flirtation.</p><p>And, never before have there been so many opportunities to be a publicly and quickly, thus achieving earlier goals. Magazines are everywhere, and there are literally hundreds of poetry workshops. There is, as never before, company for those who like to talk about and write poems.</p><p>None of this is bad. But very little of it can do more than start you on your way to the real, unimaginably difficult goal of writing <i>memorably</i>. <i>That</i> work is done slowly and in solitude, and it is as improbable as carrying water in a sieve."</p></span></span></div></div>Daniel Frederickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02034539961088826452noreply@blogger.com1